SWANS
Kill The Child LIVE: 1985-1987 (Atavistic)
Reviewed by Jason Thornberry

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The wall of pure, leviathan sound that New York City's Swans represented went from the down, down, dowwwn tempo, minor-key sheets of noise ala Sonic Youth fighting Merzbow with a rusty cheese grater, to the late 80's grace and ambience of the Children of God album, some of which gets reinvented here in front of an audience.

Kill The Child is programmed as one long (62:17), continuous track, which make sense since it's a concert. I deeply regret never having been able to witness them live. It would have been quite interesting, as rumors abound of people losing their lunch from the force of the volume.

Over the music:
"NO! IT'S OKAY!!! I'M ALRIGHT!! JUST GONNA STAY FOR TWO MORE SONGS!!! THINK I'M OKAY NOW!!!"

"IF YOU'RE SURE!! I'M HAVING A HARD TIME WITH THIS MYSELF!!"

"ERRRRRRRRP!!!"

© 2001 - Jason Thornberry